Machine for incising plug-tobacco.



I. PETERSON.

MACHINE FOR INCISING PLUG TOBACCO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.28, 1917. I

Patented May 14, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- M M& ATTIJRNEY J. PETERSON.

' MACHINE FOR INCISING PLUG TOBACCO.

APPLICATION man SEPT. 2a. 1912.

1,66,309. Patented May14,1918.

2 SHEEIS-SHEET 2.

5 4 2' j l p llWf/VTUR ATTORNEYS.

JONATHAN PETERSON, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR INGISING PLUG-TOBACCO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1%, 1918.

Continuation of application Serial No. 130,822, filed November 11, 1916.This application filed September To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN PETERSON, a citizen-of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Machines for IncisingPlug-Tobacco, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for producing a plug of tobacco suchas is set forth in my Patent No. 1,217,496, dated February 27, 1917, andfurthern'iore, the present application is in the nature of acontinuation of my application for machine for incising plug tobacco,filed November 11, 1916, Ser. No. 130,822, patented Dec. 4:, 1917,Patout No. 1,248,540.

In my Patent No. 1,217,496, aforesaid, I have shown and described a plugof tobacco which is divided into small sections or portions of a sizesuitable for chewing, for instance, by cutting or incising the plug fromopposite sides in such manner that a cut or incision on one side of theplug terminates short of, or does not meet an adjacent cut or incisionon the opposite side of the plug. so that a web or unitary strataresults which extends substantially throughout the center or centrallyof the plane of the plug, and the various sections formed or marked outby the incisions, will be united by this web. \Vhen the user desires aportion of the tobacco plug, it is only necessary, with the exercise ofbut very little force or effort, to break or separate such piece fromthe remainder of the plug, the action of bending or breaking of coursetea-ring that portion of the web which unites the particular section tothe plug. Such an incised plug is illustrated in Fig. 4c of the presentdrawings.

In my co-pending application, No. 130,822, aforesaid, I have shown anddescribed, and broadly claimed, a machine for producing such a plug, andtherefore, in the present application I will direct the claims to thespecific type of machine shown herein, inasmuch as I have included insaid earlier ap plication claims generic to both types of machines.

In the present instance. it is my purpose to provide machine which willembody the desired features of simplicity, compactness, durability andstrength, and through the agency of which plugs of the character de-Serial No. 193,689.

sired may be rapidly, continuously and economically produced in greatquantities. Furthermore, the present machine will opcrate with greatcertainty and accuracy, the various parts going to make up the machinecooperating positively and in proper timed relation to form theincisions or cuts at the desired points in the plug.

With the above recited objects and others of a similar nature in view,my invention consists in the construction, combination and arangement ofparts set forth in and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken through a plugslitting machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the machine.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a slit or incised plug of tobacco, suchas is produced by the machine, one section of the plug being removed ortorn away.

Referring now to the accompanying draw ings in detail, the standards ofthe machine are shown at 1 and support a bed-plate 2 having mountedthereon a frame A which supports the operating mechanism of the machine.Mounted on this frame A is a table or platform 3 adapted to receive theplugs to be out, said plugs being shown at P in Fig. 1. The forward endof this table 3 is preferably attached to vertical side bars 4 forming apart of the frame A while the rear end of the table is supported bysuitable braces 5 extending between the bedplate and the bottom of thetable. In order to feed the plugs P from the table to the machine, anysuitable mechanism may be employed, and. in the present instance I makeuse of a sliding pusher bar 6 composed of spaced parallel slats, onelying above and the other beneath the slotted bottom board of the table,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. To reciprocate the pusher bar 6, Iconnect'the ends of the lowermost slat thereof, as at 7 to the pusherrods 8, the opposite ends of said rods being pivoted as at 9, to thelinks 10, connected at 11 with the upper ends of the angular arms 12 ofthe rocking segmental plug clamping and feeding member B, by the ends ofthe tie rod 28. There are two of these rocking segmental plug clampingmembers, the other being indicated by the letter C, and thesesegmcntal'clamping members are formed with conrerr plugclamping faceswhich are oppositely disposed, and these clamping members are gearedtogether as hereafter described, so that as the plugs are pushed one ata time from the table 3, they drop downward and are directed by a guideformed of the curved arms 13 and 13' and the deflector board it at thelower ends of the arms 13 to a position to be clamped and fed by theoppositely disposed convex faces of the clamping members and to be cutby the cutters. Any suitable means may be employed for guiding the plugsto the machine other than that shown herein.

The clamping member B comprises a pair of angular arms 12 formedintermediate their lengths with the bearing collars 15, by means ofwhich the arms are mounted upon and made fast with the rock shaft 16.This rock shaft extends transversely of the machine above the bed-platethereof and each end of such shaft is journaled in a sleeve bearing 17forming the upper end of a yieldingly mounted post 18. Each post 18 isbifurcated at its lower end as at 19 to fit over a web 20 forming a partof the frame A and at its bifurcated portion is pivoted as at 21 to suchweb. Each of such arms 18 is also formed with a lateral extension boredfor the reception of the bolt 23 which passes loosely therethrough, aspring 2% being coiled about the shank of the bolt and interposedbetween the extension and the block 25 bolted as at 26 to the adjacentpart of the frame of the machine. A nut 27 is threaded on to the end ofthe shank of the bolt which projects above the extension 22, with theresult that the arm 18 is tensioned, and such tension may be adjusted asdesired. Furthermore, these yielding arms 18 by means of the pivotmounting and tension spring just described, will yield to the desireddegree when necessary to permit the passage between the clamping membersB and C of plugs of dilferent thicknesses. The alining ends of the arms12 are connected by horizontal tierods 28, these tie-rods passingthrough and supporting the abutting heads 29 of the series of curved orbowed, spaced slats 30, which form the plug-engaging section of the plugclamping member B. One of the arms 12 carries a segmental rack gear 31,which meshes with a similar but oppositely disposed rack gear 32 of thecompanion clamping member C. Like the clamping member l3 this clampingmember C in cludes a pair of angular arms 12, one of which carries thissegmental rack gear These arms 12 are also formed with collars 15"intermediate their ends by means of which the arms are mounted upon andmade fast with the rock shaft 16, the latter being journaled in sleevebearings 17 formed on the frame A. The alining ends of these arms .12are also connected by horizontally eX- In order to actuate the clampingmembers B and C, or to impart. a rocking plugfeeding and clamping actionthereto, any suitable train of power mechanism may be empl yed. in thepresent instance, the power shaft driven from the belt pulley 35,carries at one end a crank 36 which is in turn connected with a crankarm 37 through a link 38. The crank arm 37 is made fast with one end ofthe shaft 16 of the clan'iping member C, and the result is that as thepower shaft turns a rocking motion will be imparted through the linkconnection to the shaft 16 in, turn rocking the clamping member C, whichbeing geared with the clamping member B will rock the latter back andforth, so that, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 1, as theplugs are fed or dropped downward between the two clamping members B andC, they will be gripped by the slatted walls or sections of theseclamping members, and fed past the two cutting mechanisms D and E, atwhich time the cutting or incising of the plug takes place.

The cutting mechanism D which is associated with the clamping member Boomprises in the present instance a plurality of sets of circular cutte'disks 36 mounted upon a rotating shaft 37, the disks of each set beingheld in suitable spaced relation by means of small collars 38. In thepresent instance, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 2,there are threesets of these cutter disks 36, there being disks to each set, and oneset is spaced apart from the other' by spacing collars 39, but it willof course be understood that there may be any number of these disksarranged in any desired manner. Suitable retaining nuts it) areadjustable on the threaded section d1 of the shaft 37 so that properadjustment and positioning of the cutte disks may be made, as will bereadily understood. The en of the shaft 37 are inounted in eccentricbearing sleeves 42, which are fitted into the bearings 43, forming partof the frame land by turning these eccentric sleeve bearings, theshaftmay be adjusted to adjust-the cutters relative to the clamping faceor section of the member B, or relative to the descending plug. Thecircular blades of the cutters 36 lie in the spaces between the slats 30so as to project slightly beyond the outer clamping faces of the slatsor into position to cut plugs, as will be clearly understood byreference to Fig. 3, and by adjusting the shaft with the eccentricsleeve bearings, as before mentioned, the cutting edges of the bladesmay be caused to pro ect through the slats to a greater or lesserdegree, as may be desirable.

Likewise, the cutting mechanism E is in the nature of the gang cutter,that is to say on the rotary cutter shaft 37 I mount a plurality ofspaced rotary cutters 36 corre sponding in number and arrangement to thecutters 36 and positioned so as to cooperate therewith in the cutting orincising of the plug, these cutter disks 36 being spaced by the collars38 and 39, and areheld in position and adjusted by the nuts A0 threadedon the threaded sections 41' on the shaft 37. Likewise, the shaft 37 ismounted in eccentric bearings 42 tted in the bearings A3 forming anadjacent part of the frame A. In other words, these two sets of cuttingmechanisms, D and E, are similar in structure, and arrangement and thelike, one set operating on one side of the plug while the other setoperates on the opposite side, and

in the operation of the present machine for the purposes of forming aplug, such as is shown in Fig. 4, care should be taken that the twocutting mechanisms should be so adjusted relative to each other andrelative to the segmental clamping members B and C with which they areassociated, so as to cut the plug on both sides, but not so deep as tocause the cuts to meet or to entirely sever the plug sections. Thecutter shafts 37 and 37 may be driven in any suitable manner, and in thepresent instance I mount upon the power shaft 34: the sprocket AAdriving an endless chain belt 45, this belt passing over an idler L6,thence around the sprocket 47 upon the shaft 37 of the cutting mechanismD, thence over a sprocket 47 of the cutting mechanism E, the endlesschain being driven, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the shafts 47 and 47will of course be driven in opposite directions to cause the cutters ofthe mechanisms D and E to rotate in 0pposite directions, while cuttingthe plug. As the plug passes down and is clamped by the clamping membersB and C it is fed through and to these cutters where it is incised orcut on both sides to produce the plug shown in Fig. 4., and the plug soincised or,

cut, then drops by gravity onto the concave delivery chute F which isformed of a series of curved, spaced slats L8 fastened together bytie-bars 49 and 50, the plugs sliding down this chute to a. suitablepoint of discharge.

As will beseen by reference to Fig. 1, the plugs may be so placed ontable 3 that with the reciprocation of the pusher bar 6, a rear plugwill push a forward plug down the guideway to position to be operatedupon by the convex faces of the clamping members B and C, by which theplug will be carried into position to be cut by the rotary cutters, andthe depth of the cuts or incisions made in the plug may be regulated byadjusting the cutter shafts, as hereinbefore described. The operation ofcutting or incising the plugs may be carried on with great rapidity andaccuracy as to depth and location, the cutters being kept clean or freefrom shreds of tobacco and the like by small, flexible scrapers 51. Itwill further be noted that plugs of varying thickness may be uniformlyoperated upon by the machine, as owing to the yielding nature of themounting of the clamping member B, the supports 18 for the latter willyield when a thick plug is passing therethrough, thus obviating thejamming of the plug while when a relatively thin plug is passing throughthe machine these arms 18 will be forced by the springs in the oppositedirection to throw the clamping section or face of the member B towardthe member C to insure the proper gripping of the plug.

As heretofore mentioned, and as Will be noted by reference to Figs. 2and 3, the cutters are in the nature of gangs, each comprising aplurality of spaced cutting disks. As is well known, the ordinarytobacco plug as packed for shipment to the retailer is in the form of anoblong or rectangular bar or piece, and when cutting such a plug withthis machine, it may be fed broad-side to the cutters so that all of thesets will operate simultaneously upon the plug, thereby making theincisions throughout the entire width of the plug. Or if desired, as inmaking cross cuts on the plug, or forming the incisions lengthwisethereof, the plug may be fed between a single set of opposing cutters.In other words, the plug may be so fed as to cause all of the cutters tosimultaneously operate thereon, or may be fed so as to simply cause anopposing pair of sets of cutters to operate on the plug.

While I have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of myinvention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself toall the precise details of construction herein set forth by way ofillustration, as modification and variation may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for incising plug tobacco to provide a plug having aplurality of integrally united sections, the combination with a pair ofrocking members having opposed convex clamping faces operative to clampand release a plug therebetween, of cutting mechanism located adjacentsaid clamping members and constructed to incise the plug "while suchplug is clamped between the convex faces of said members.

2. In a machine for incising plug tobacco to pro *ide a plug having aplurality of integrally united sections, the combination with a pair ofcurved, rocking clamping members having convex clamping faces and gearedtogether to move into and out of plug-clamping relation and clamp a plugbetween their convex faces, and cutting mechanism mount-ed adj acent theclamping members and constructed to operate upon aplug of tobacco whilethe latter is held between the convex faces of the clamping members, toprovide a plurality of spaced incisions extending from the face of theplug partly therethrough.

3. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with a pairof rocking, segmental clamping members having opposed convex clampingfaces adapted to clamp and release a plug of tobacco, of rotary cuttersmounted adjacent the clamping members and constructed to operate upon aplug of tobacco while the latter is held between the convex faces of theclamping members to provide a plurality of spaced incisions in the faceof the plug.

Tl. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with aplurality of rocking, segmental clamping members having convex clampingfaces and geared together and adapted to clamp and release a plugtherebetween, of a plurality of angs of rotary cutters located adjacentthe clamping members and adapted to incise a plug while the latter isheld between the clamping members.

In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with a pair ofrocking curved clamps, each having the plug clamping section thereofformed of spaced mem bers, of cutters mounted adjacent the clamps andhaving portions projecting through the spaces between the members of theclamp and adapted to operate upon a plug held between the clamps toform. incisions in such plug.

6. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, a rocking, segmental clamphaving a plug clamping section formed of a plurality of spaced. members,cutting mechanism projecting through the spaces between the members, andmeans for operating with, the clamp for holding the plug in position tobe incised by the cutting mechanism.

7. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with a pairof rocking segmental clamping members having convex clamping faces, ofmeans for feeding a plug tothe clamping members, and cutting mechneecnoeauism operating upon the plug while clamped between the convex faces toform incisions in opposite faces of such plug.

8. In a machine for incising plug tobacco,

the combination with a pair of rocking, seg- 7 mental clamping membersgeared together and adapted to clamp and release a plug therebetween, ofgangs of rotary cutters faces of the plug through part of its thicknesswhile such plug is clamped by the clamping members, a guide for feedingthe plugs into position between the clamping members to be operated uponby the cutters and means for delivering the incised plugs from themachine.

10. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, a yieldable support, aclamping member mounted to rock on said support, a sec ond clampingmember cooperating with the first mentioned clamping member, saidclamping member having opposed convex clamping facesand adapted to clampa plug of tobacco therebetween and means for incising the plug clampedby the clamping members.

11. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with ayieldably mounted rocking segmental clamping memher, a second rockingsegmental clamping member cooperating with the first mentioned clampingmember and adapted to clamp a plug of tobacco, a plurality of gangs ofrotary cutters located adjacent the clamping members and adapted toincise opposite sides of the plug of tobacco held by the clampingmembers, and means for successively feeding the plugs to the clampingmembers.

12. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, the combination with ayieldably mounted rocking segmental clamping member, a second rockingsegmental clamping member cooperating with the first mentioned clampingmember and adapted to'clamp a plug of tobacco, a plurality of gangs ofrotary cutters located adjacent the clamping members and adapted toincise opposite sides of the plug of tobacco held by the clampingmembers, and a pusher member pivotally connected to one of said clampingmembers and adapted to feed plugs of tobacco into position to be clampedby the clamping members.

13. In a machine for incising plug tobacco, a plurality of segmentalrocking clamping members geared together and adapted to clamp a plugtherebetween, a feeder device connected with one of said clampingmembers and adapted to feed the plugs to the clamping members, a guidefor directing the plugs from the feeder device to the clamping members,a plurality of gangs of rotary cutters located adjacent the clampingmembers and adapted to project therethrough and to incise opposite facesof a plug held by the clamping members, means for adjusting the gangs ofcutters, a delivery chute for conducting the incised plugs from thecutters to a point of discharge, power transmission mechanism betweenthe power shaft and one of the geared clamping members for impartingmovement to the clamping members, and power transmission mechanisminterposed between the power bacco, a plurality of segmental rockingclamping members geared together and adapted to clamp a plugtherebetween, one of said clamping members being yieldably mounted tomove toward and from the others, each of said clamping members having aplug clamping section comprising a plurality of curved, spaced slats, afeeder device connected with the yielding clamping members and adaptedto feed plugs to the clamping members, a plurality of gangs of spacedrotary cutters located adjacent the clamping members and having thecutting edges thereof projecting through the spaces between the slatswhereby to incise oppositefaces of the plug held by the clampingmembers, and power transmission mechanism for operating the clampingmembers and rotating the cutters.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JONATHAN PETERSON.

Copies 0! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of intents, Washington, D. 0.

